Amusing Part I: Prelude to Madness
by Leki
Summary: The Cheshire Cat was always good at being many things, as Alice may soon find out. The cat-thing that was so nice and helpful before, in his own way of course, is only one side to the whole puzzle.
1. Amusing P1 Prelude to Madness

**Amusing**

by Leki

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_Alice in Wonderland. AlicexCheshire Cat. Rated T. Genre - Romance/Dark Fantasy._

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_The Cheshire Cat was always good at being many things, as Alice may soon find out. The cat-thing that was so nice and helpful before, in his own way of course, is only one side to the whole puzzle._

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_Disclaimer - Alice in Wonderland (and Through the Looking Glass) originally by Lewis Carroll. There is a Disney movie adaptation, and a game called American McGee's Alice._

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_Characterization is drawn from all three mentioned in the disclaimer (I know there are more adaptations, but these are the ones I'm using). The teasing of Disney, the sinister nature of McGee's. And of course, the inspiration from the very awesome original. I can't help but want to tribute that wonderful book of which so many adaptations have been made. Please, enjoy._

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**Part I: Prelude to Madness**

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Slowly, the Cat swished his tail back and forth, back and forth. Slowly it waved around him, as if he had not a care in the world. But in fact, the Cat had one care. A certain young lady that had visited the land consciously only once, her dreams having carried her gently to the mad Wonderland, without her even noticing a change.

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With a small hop, he leapt gracefully onto a branch below the one he was currently relaxing upon, and padded softly down to the ground. His tail swished back and forth in silent contemplation. Not unusual for a cat, except at the tip of the branch where he let himself slide off, as his body flickered, dulling then coming back. He rolled forward in mid-air and land on one front paw, the other three landing with a puff of dirt. His swishing tail came to a rest by curling itself around his feet, the tip twitching. His eyes were wide and blank, seeming to glow a pale yellow light as he stared off for a second, seeing something in his mind.

_-/-/-_

_The swish of a pale blue dress hem, the slightly wavy, yellow-gold of silky hair. Those petite little pale hands clasped tidily in the front, against the white of an apron._

_--_

A dry, hissing chortle escaped between his teeth, out and over the rims of his upturned lips. The pale, yellow tinted eyes flashed, a predatory gleam to them. His paw pushed upwards, and his body acted accordingly, drifting him forward, the paws skimming over the dusty road and then into the ferns and small flowers bordering it. Darting and weaving through the dark Tulgey Wood, he followed the aroma he needed. A pink tongue flicked out and ran over the thin points of the teeth settled in his preternatural grin.

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He had always been self serving, and now was no different. He knew exactly what he wanted, and he already had an inkling of an idea of how he could get her. Enticement always could hook those dull humans... although, since she had made it to Wonderland, she wasn't perhaps so dull as the others. Precisely why she intrigued him. Made him _maaad_...

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His sharp little nose keenly kept him on the trail he wanted the entire time as he thought out his little plan. He didn't stop to prepare. He had all he needed in himself; he was a master at self-sufficiency. With a dry hiss of excitement, he leapt into the tree above as his dark purple and pink stripes began unwinding, tail tip to belly. Those dull eyes were gleaming again, his rough purr rolling out behind them. His outstretched claws made trails of smooth cuts down the branch as he slid. The feeling of bark crumbling and wood separating beneath the pads and claws was generously rewarding in enjoyment. He just could not _wait_ to get started.

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A thick, enveloping silence was seeping through the forest at the smell of this hunting Cat. The dreamy animals in the forest feared the Cat, as he was both powerful and intelligent, in his own mad way. And so they avoided him whenever he became like this, when he wanted something, when he became hungry. His eyes shone in the darkness, as his signature stripes rolled up around his sharp shoulder blades and chest, towards his head, and finally disappeared altogether. Only the eyes and that now sinister grin remained, until they were clicked away with a sharp clack of teeth snapping together, and a low, soft muttering.

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"She'll see that we're all mad here. She's surely, heh heh, seeee! Ha ha ha!" Laugher faded away down the trail as the Cat moved on, not a single stirring of dust or leaf. Not a track left.

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Daintily, with care and slowness, the animals returned to their business of daily life. Now that the danger was gone. Of course, they could never tell if he had really moved on, and wasn't lying in wait. But then again, if he decided to come after them, not much could be done anyways, no matter how much they wished for an alternative.

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_'There's a forest fire_

_Burnin' bright_

_Spreading quickly towards_

_Our last rights_

_Nowhere to run_

_Pointless to hide_

_Just lay there and scream_

_Pretending to try_

_Pretending'_

_lyrics - 'Burn' by Alkaline Trio_

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_I know, it's shorter, but this is a prelude. Longer bits to come. Hopefully, if I can muster enough smart words._


	2. Amusing P2 Reality of Sorts

**Amusing**

by Leki

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_Alice in Wonderland. AlicexCheshire Cat. Rated T. Genre - Romance/Dark Fantasy._

_The Cheshire Cat was always good at being many things, as Alice may soon find out. The cat-thing that was so nice and helpful before, in his own way of course, is only one side to the whole puzzle._

_--  
_

_Disclaimer - Alice in Wonderland (and Through the Looking Glass) originally by Lewis Carroll. There is a Disney movie adaptation, and a game called American McGee's Alice._

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Thank you MadxHatterXTeapot (whose Wonderland story '9 Lives to Live' you SHOULD check out!) and James Birdsong (anonymous) for the first reviews. I'm glad at least SOMEONE likes it enough to review! 3

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Yay! God has provided me with words when I thought they would dry up...

Three points for those bored enough to be interested. 1.Yay, I finally got the Looking Glass Wars Book #1! If you haven't read it, get it NOW. I command you. 2.I thought I had both lost and washed the memory thing I was using to house my stories. So, minor melt down. (and that's why it's late, even though it was mostly finished) And 3.I didn't think of this until someone pointed it out, but AlicexCheshire would be considered bestiality wouldn't it? XD I never thought of the Cheshire Cat as a CAT for some reason…

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_Dedicated to Hunters of all classes, and those that are the Hunted, with no way to escape._

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**Part II: Reality of Sorts**

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That delectable aroma was so alluring, in it's mouth watering sweetness. It was the barely swirling trail above the whorls of the yellow path that had been. The one that sweeping mongrel had brushed away, and in doing so, had gotten the poor dear lost...

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"Tee hee, ha ha, tee hee, ha haaaa…" The poor dear _lost_, lost in such haunting Woods. Wandering alone amongst those tall, dark trees, so close to her own world's pines but just a tad off the mark. Nothing here was exactly like her world; it had a sense of detachment, an unknowing sense that humans just weren't used to seeing and _trying _to comprehend. Something they just _couldn't_ comprehend. At least in the daylight. In the shining light of rational thoughts and the company of others of their own familiar kind that fought against all things unknown and unexplored. Although, Alice had done a marvelous job of maneuvering amongst the bumbling animals and hunting beasts. In fact, she had seemed fascinated by them.

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It was said that if you did something that was strange long enough, it would no longer be strange. It would, indeed, become familiar to your own self. Even if others reviled that action or thought, isolating it in their stirrings of unease, their murmurings of fear. That action might just become comforting to you. Maybe Alice had visited lands of dreaming, on this side of the glass, once to often. Maybe becoming enthralled by what she saw, even taking random glimpses through the dreams of day. It was like she was trading her world for those dreamy dreams.

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Trading in! For mad Wonderland! Oh, fanciful, wishful joy! That brought shown teeth, since then just showing in a flat line as if he was prepared to snap at any given moment, curving upwards now into grin of satisfaction and utter glee.

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Perhaps little Alice dear could be fully shown the subservient flip-side of her world to a fuller extent. The soft underbelly, so to speak; although not as soft as it appeared to be at first glance. It had very real dangers of it's own, after all. Dangers that could inflict very real pain.

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A small chuckle vibrated through his throat, and his teeth ground together, the spaced tips clashing hungrily.

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Little. Delectable. Alice. Now there was a fine thought.

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Miss Alice didn't know the ways of little Wonderland. It'd be much fun to show her the ways, that this world had indeed grown up. Greatly influenced by her childish thoughts, it had sprouted from that layer of un-reality that is always there in the distant unconsciousness. It was a young, toddling thing; a new infant. And as child, it was naïve, innocent, delightful. But it had grown, and those thoughts and directions, so irrational had spun wildly in learning and feeling. Of course, the thwacking from the Queen of Hearts hadn't help it's unsteady wobbling that made it spin right into it's own brand of insanity. _Wonderland _Insanity.

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And much like those insane catatonics down in those dismal asylums that were given up as lost causes, perhaps Alice would have to withdraw from her original world. She would have no place of her own that she belonged in. The others would give up on her, and she would have to come to Wonderland's, to his, loving, waiting embrace.

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This world would dominate her thoughts- dominant, what a wonderful thought- and she'd stay! Something that could amuse him for ages to come. Like how she had amused him standing before the Red Queen and her small King. So petulant, thinking this was all something so overly ridiculous. Trying to get them to understand that those standing on trial where innocent. They were taken even though they had done nothing.

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Much like the little animal dangling now between his teeth, it's innocent blood dripping down upon his short, almost flat, muzzle. It hadn't done anything, but cats do hunger for meat, and it just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Poor little ratty thing, long thin tail swinging as he walked and tasted flesh, the torso already a shredded remnant of what it had been. With a crunch, he snapped the spine into further pieces, and sucked the tail in. Tongue wiping away the blood.

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With his hunger satiated for now after that small hunt, the blood lingering in scent, but thinning, that aroma came again. His paws padded after it, making two tracks of prints that seemed to be to widely apart, as if from a much wider animal. He loomingly glided past the small, curling purple ferns that lined the trail that had been battered down by former paws and hooves. Small rustling stilled as his silent, gloomy shadow fell on them, and the thin shining eyes of small creatures startled to stillness.

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In a something akin to, but not quite mercy, he slid past while apathetically murmuring to himself and continued on his way. He ignored the small pray, his searching continued until he felt a shift in the world, right as the closest thing to midnight they had came on time. Vision distorted and the sky swerved strangely over his head. He chuckled and purred, his back arching up against the staticky pull that was tugging at him. It felt so pleasant, although the other animals didn't think so. As his ears flicked backwards, he could hear their plodding and scurrying, moving away from the pull.

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He moved back and forth, feeling for the strongest sensation, that almost unbearably lovely feeling of being stroked by some small hand, delicate, gentle fingers run through fur, making is disarrayed. The soft twinkle of a young voice murmuring, and jasmine mixed with the not so subtle scent of human. The lighter, softer scent of the young, the feminine.

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As he looked forward at some point in space, a small bright white spot appeared, like the color of a fluttering white fairy. His eyes shifted minutely to it, and he did not blink or move, besides the soft flicker of the tip of his tail. Soft, outwardly curving lines of black swirled and shifted, first dragging the colors of the scenery clockwise with them, and then they faded and the colors slid back into place. The white dulled, fluttered and flickered, and slowly withdrew into itself as if it was undecidedly nervous.

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"...Wonder...land..." That soft murmur of the familiar voice, and the white light expanded phenomenally, almost blindingly until he had to slit his eyes. But he refused to look away. The color of his eyes bled outward, and a swirling of a pale, dull yellow seeped at all sides of his vision. He moved forward, his head angled downward. His paw entered the white which had expanding slowly into a circular shape to the floor, and he immediately felt gravity trying to pull him downwards. He pushed himself through, his body being pulled at all parts, inner and outer. Dimly he could see darkness at the end of what appeared to be at the end of a tunnel made of segmented circles of razored light, almost like neon white tubes. Another step and he stopped, his feet firmly planted. A nausea rose in him, and he coughed, his chest restricted and pushed together from the power of the white. His ears flattened to the top of his head, and his hissed in anger and pain as his stripes began to pull away from his body revealing vanished flesh, as if someone was skinning him piece by piece, guided by the coiling pattern.

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Another step, and suddenly the tubes making up the tunnel came rushing at the midpoint, him, and stacked together as a Slinky will do if stretched and let go, rushing back together. The razor of light slowly started to tightened towards him as it clashed to a stop, and he could feel their pressing power. He stepped forward again, and suddenly, the tunnel was gone. He crouched down with his tail tucked tightly around his paws, panting shallowly for breath. He looked over his shoulder, and saw a pale gray portal, oval shaped with the bottom tip barely touching the floor, and the upper tip reaching a full seven feet. At it's width, it was two and a half feet. All around it's rim was a cloudy white, fluffy and cylindrical. Almost like the frame of a mirror, he mused. Throughout the sheen still, flat surface almost like a mirror itself, were smatterings of the palest blue, like the streaks through marble. He glared at it and his angry hiss ushered forth.

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His anger dissipating slightly, he snapped his head up. He surveyed his surroundings, and his eyes shone with disgust, his mouth twisting again in that inevitable grin that didn't always just show glee, but the darker emotions as well. Oh, so so deceitful. Dull colored things, _boring _things. He stood up, stretching as his stripes slowly fell back into place, from where they had hung suspended and hanging by threads near his neck. They were floating down, as if they weighed like feathers, and softly wrapped themselves into their proper places.

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He ignored everything of still-life in the room... The tall wooden bureau-cabinet, the small wood and glass table with a small wicker bowl with a white lace hanky, and small rounded dobs of chocolates, the small makeup desk with a tall mirror, frame curving prettily, almost like folds of metal wings. The wallpaper of a vertical stripes of faded white and pale blue, small, delicate flowers bordering the molding. The small canopy bed beside the table with dark folds of red velvet which were at the time, pulled back. Fluffy, soft blankets laid below two pillows of down, a shape enfolded in the blankets, light hair upon a pillow... It was this shape his gaze was on.

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Alice.

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His grin was widening further, almost as if it was going to split. He chuckled breathlessly, his ear pointed high as he moved forward, his nostrils flared to catch that mouth watering scent. Human with the lightest perfume. He leapt forward, almost unseen, and landed softly upon the pillow behind her on the other side of the bed.

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She was laying so... defensively. Curled on her right side, her little hands held under her chin. The blanket only came to her waist, the shape of the legs cast from it, curled up slightly. Hair loose from that ban, fanning out over her shoulders and back, over the pillow. Her skin so pale even against the pale pink and white of the blankets. So smooth.

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He curled around her head, the tail stroking her left arm, his head resting at her forehead.

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"Alice dear, your. Found. Out. Hm hm hmmm!" He whispered under his breath. He stared, transfixed by the flickering of her thin eyelids, "Mm, mm mmmm, what _should _I make of this dreaming?" His gaze moved to the pulse of her neck, and down her arm, to the pulse beating at her wrist. He chuckled, "No no, silly cat, you can't eat this mouse." He crouched beside her, and muttered to himself, singing of shovel-noses and mome raths to her, his tail ceaselessly stroking her bare arm.

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Alice shivered gently, and he watched raptly, as her colors shimmered over her body. Almost like a rippling of water on a pool's tiled floor. His teeth parted, and he crouched breathless. It was so beautiful and colorful, shining, unlike the dull, dark things around them.

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"Oh, how you'd shine in Wonderland." He chuckled and leaned forward, a coarse tongue licking the corner of her mouth and her cheek, "Now dear, you _must_ wake." He whispered in her ear. Young Alice let out a soft sigh, and her eyes fluttered open, staring up into his own pale yellow eyes, with their pupils of the darkest purple. She stared sleepily for a moment, him peering down at her. Slowly, she reached up her left hand and laid it behind his right ear, the tips of her fingers nuzzling into the pink and purple fur.

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"Silly cat... I was just... dreaming about you." The Cheshire Cat froze, his tail wrapped around her arm, "And now your here." She sounded half asleep, and she was smiling, looking up at him with sleep glazed eyes.

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Visibility flickered over the Cat. He didn't just unwind in that slow, lazy fashion; his whole body flickered at once. Back and forth, the dark purple and dark pink flickered. Even when only he knew where his body was, the hairs were standing on end. He knew she had been dreaming about Wonderland. Otherwise, the portal wouldn't have appeared. Her unconsciousness was the requirement there. But dreaming about him? Dreaming about _him_?

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He stared down at her, staying motionless, as he waited for that moment when she fully awoke, which he knew would happen at any time. Slowly, he watched her soft smile of naive contentment turn into a frown of consternation, and her eyes came from behind the fogs of dream.

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"You…!!" Feeling her body suddenly shift to get up, the Cat leapt nimbly upon the floor, and sat licking at the pad of his right paw, the claws coming out as he tapped them against his own tongue, "My! You…! What are you…?!" Alice sat up, and stared at him for a long moment before rubbing hard at her eyes, "Cheshire Cat?"

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"But who else?" She rubbed hard at her eyes, shaking her head. This was a dream, of course. Wonderland was not real. The Cheshire Cat was not real. But then he was there. She felt him at her lower back, lounging contently there against her as if he belonged. Her pale face flushed with blood. She was embarrassed. The Cat was a cat, not a human, but he was still a male. And there she was, a female, in bed, with only the thin, pale blue silk and lace of a nightgown covering her slender figure.

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"S-shoo, SHOO! Scat you notorious cat! Your not here! Your not _welcome_ here!" She pulled the blanket towards her chest, and looked at him worriedly. The last time she had brought Wonderland up while awake, she had talked so fully and so long about the place, she had been punished. When she had refused to say she had only been playing, and had gone against her elders, saying it was real... Well. It was painful. Twenty switches of a willow branch and confinement to her room for a week. Not to mention the other children looking at her oddly, and bringing up that nickname again. _Odd Alice, Odd Alice, Odd Alice!_ No lady that was to grow up spoke up fanciful things like that. And a lady most certainly did not speak against her elders and betters.

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The Cat's eyes flashed dangerously, and he was suddenly at the side of the bed. His fury subsided somewhat when he saw the red marks lashed upon her hand. It was replaced by a vicious possessiveness. If he hadn't wanted to get back to Wonderland, maybe he would have gone and played with them, those who had hurt Alice. But now, he wanted to be near only her, and he wouldn't leave her side, not after he'd found her.

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"I hardly need an invitation. Your welcoming mind is more than enough."

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"No." Alice replied stubbornly, "This is my room, my _world_- And you are not welcome!" Alice pressed her lips firmly together, trying to keep herself from wishing him closer. He was the only thing her that knew she hadn't been lying; that she hadn't deserved punishment.

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The Cat flashed his infamous grin, his teeth and fangs pressed tightly together.

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"You think you can stop me from staying? You think you can revoke your unconscious invitation?" A small, hysterical, breathless laughter caught onto the edge of the last word. The teeth flashed with Wonderland glow and spirit, a powerful source. With the shadows of the night and light of the stars from the windows passing over him in bars, his teeth flashing, he did indeed look stubborn and unmovable. Scary, even. Alice was silent for a long moment, collecting her wits.

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"Oh, do get over yourself. You don't look half as scary as my own sweet kitten." She glanced over at Dinah, who lay at the foot of the bed on a pillow with her name on it in pretty cursive, watching with big, round eyes as the intruder encountered her 'mother'. Looking back at the Cat, she saw his amused face, and she almost had to sigh at her own foolishness. Of course the Cat was bigger and darker, and for good Heavens _scarier_! than her own little one. When she opened her mouth, half the time she wished she'd just go ahead and stick her own foot in. The Cat chuckled again, his teeth still showing, "And do put those horrible teeth away. They aren't abit scary!" Although they truly were; looking at them gave Alice shivers and nightmares, "And I bet they aren't one. Bit. Sharp! Why, I bet your more bark than bite, am I right?"

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In a flash, the Cat had pulled himself up by his arms only onto the bed, his right paw on her stomach, the left upon her bed, and his mouth wrapped around her tender upper arm. The pointed tips of the fangs pressed delicately into the fair skin, yet she could feel the pressure and the strength of that terrible jaw. Around those sharp fangs, he spoke as if he mouth wasn't full of flesh.

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"Sharper than they appear, my dear?"

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I-I... mustn't upset him further. Alice swallowed dryly, licking at her lips. Slowly, she tugged her arm away from him. The teeth didn't let go. They held onto her arm firmly and drew a thin trickle of blood. He savored the salty taste, eying her drawn face. And his nerve! He was relaxing, laying down with his paw thrown across her belly and lap. Without really meaning to, her free arm withdrew against her chest, as if that might somehow offer protection.

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"Oh ho ho, dear Alice, don't worry; I won't get _mad_ at you." His grin widened as if he had made a joke.

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"Hrm! I don't see what's quite so funny!" Alice fumed, and her free hand angrily shoved at his face. The teeth released her arm then, only to replace themselves around her thin fingers. Alice stopped, flinching as she imagined the fingers snapping, and the noise they'd make... and the pain. With her imagination, it wasn't a terribly hard thing to do. The Cat chuckled. She was so easy to corner.

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She was trying to think of something not upsetting to say to the Cat, when she jumped. The teeth had been removed without her ever noticing, and he was licking at her fingertips with the rough surface of her tongue.

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"Now see here! Those are mine! Even if you are threatening me, that's no reason to go... licking my fingers!" She sighed in exasperation, not able to come up with anything better, "Your not some dear pet! Your... your a horrible Cat that won't leave me alone!" Tears followed the exasperation, and her eyes soon became clouded anew, "A silly cat that just won't leave!" She pulled her fingers away from the Cat and covered her face.

--

It just wasn't fair. She had been deposited in England, Wonderland fresh in her mind. No body believed her. Everyone thought she was a liar. And almost everyone avoided her, calling her things like Odd Alice Out. Her mother even took it upon herself to start forming her into a proper young lady of society, something Alice had never wanted to do, and found tiresomely difficult. And with Wonderland in her heart, it was harder yet. But she had tried forgetting, she had moved on. Of course, after several attempts of trying to will herself into Wonderland with no success at all to show for it, except for a phantom taste of those delicious cookies and currants, the ghostly ringing of singing roses and lilies, and a heart full of ache. And right when she had been settling down to reading books with no pictures and other such dreary things, a thing from Wonderland came and woke her from the only respite she had; sleep. And in doing so, awoke her to that longing for that wonderful place. But everyone was mad there, they wouldn't help her get back.

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"Now now, none of that Earthly THINKiiiing." Before Alice could think another thought of that sort, she found herself flat on her back, her head on the pillow. She struggled, hmphing at the Cat, but this time instead of leaving her to herself, his paws found her shoulders and immediately pinned her down to the bed, "Ooooh, Alice! If you keep pushing my buttons I may get testy and do something _drastic_!" With her pinned below him, that sounded just fine to him, but not to her apparently. With him pinning her down from above, seeming bigger and leaner than before, he looked, more than ever, the part of predator cat. Alice meekly settled down into her blanket, worry infusing her spirit. What in the world would he do to her?!

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Without a single word of warning, the Cat slid sideways, and lay down across her belly. He began to lick her hand again, gently, as if he was paying only half his mind to it. He was patiently waiting for her to fall back to sleep so that portal would appear, so he could drag his catch back. Before, when he had awoken her, he just hadn't been able to contain himself. He wanted to see her eyes open, but now it was down to business. Well, mildly business, as he was still enjoying himself, pinning her down with his weight and claws like that. But still business, he supposed.

--

Alice, both rather relieved and rather annoyed at the turn of events, tried to take her hand back. But the head twisted to an unnatural angle to follow her hand, the teeth slid over her fingers again and he simple tugged her hand back to her side again, back to easy reach. He began licking again, but not before she heard a dark chuckle of amusement.

--

_He's enjoying this!...Oh deeear_... She laid there, tense. She would never get back to sleep now. She sighed deeply, and with another small shower of tears, she resigned to this fate as her muscles relaxed slowly and sleepiness settled upon her, much to her surprise. Ah well... If she had him there, she might as well enjoy him and his presence. With a softer sigh, she took her other hand and absent mindedly began stroking his back, as she would have Dinah. The Cheshire Cat looked over at her curiously, but Alice was staring up at the canopy ceiling, already in that space between sleeping and un-sleeping. He didn't have to glance over to know that Dinah had joined them by curling up between a crook of his mother and him, finally trusting and fully content to curl against the added warmth.

--

After staring at her face for a long time, he began again to lick at her hand and lower arm, lulling her to sleep, lulling her into vulnerability.

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_'This impending doom_

_Is left deep inside_

_And it's haunting you_

_Each and every night'_

_-lyrics- 'Burn', by Alkaline Trio_

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Haha, tsk tsk to anyone who thought the Cat was going to do something naughty when he pushed her down. X 3

Hm, I'm not sure how to get to my goal on this. This is surprisingly hard to write. Guess we'll see then...


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